Resource configuration method and device

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of this application provide an unlicensed frequency band-based resource configuration method and an apparatus, to resolve a problem of configuring a fixed frame period FFP for a terminal device operating in an unlicensed frequency band in a current technology. The method includes: A network device sends fixed frame period FFP configuration information to a terminal device, where the FFP configuration information indicates an FFP configuration of the terminal device, an FFP is a period used by the terminal device to transmit a signal, the FFP includes channel occupancy time COT and an idle period Idle period, the channel occupancy time COT is used by the terminal device to transmit the signal, and the idle period is used by the terminal device to perform LBT.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of International Application No.PCT/CN2019/111338, filed on Oct. 15, 2019, the disclosure of which ishereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This application relates to the communication field, and in particular,to a resource configuration method in an unlicensed frequency band and adevice.

BACKGROUND

In a 5th generation (5^(th) generation, 5G) mobile communication system,a wireless device is supported in performing communication in anunlicensed frequency band (unlicensed band). In this manner, a samefrequency domain resource needs to be shared and used by a plurality ofdifferent wireless devices.

In this system, different wireless devices need to occupy a sharedfrequency domain resource according to a rule. For example, 10milliseconds (ms) is used as an access period, and a wireless device Aneeds to detect a channel occupation status before the access period,that is, perform clear channel assessment (clear channel assessment,CCA). If the wireless device A detects a wireless signal or detectsstrong wireless signal energy on a channel when performing CCA, thewireless device A determines that the channel detected in the currentaccess period cannot be used, or the detected channel is occupied byanother wireless device, and the wireless device A no longer sendsinformation in the access period. If the wireless device A detects nowireless signal or detects no strong wireless signal energy on a channelwhen performing CCA, the wireless device A may send a signal insubsequent channel occupancy time (channel occupancy time, COT).

It is different from resource transmission performed based on a slot ina current NR system that, impact of an access period needs to beconsidered for resource transmission in an unlicensed frequency band.However, no corresponding solution is provided in a current technology.Therefore, how a network device configures an access period and channeloccupancy time COT of a terminal device is still an urgent technicalproblem to be resolved.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of this application provide a resource configuration methodand a device, so that a terminal device in an unlicensed frequency bandlearns of a configuration of a fixed frame period (fixed frame period,FFP) that includes COT and an idle period used for access.

According to a first aspect, this application provides a resourceconfiguration method, and the method is performed by a network device.In the method, the network device sends FFP configuration information toa terminal device, where the FFP configuration information indicates anFFP configuration of the terminal device, an FFP is a period used by theterminal device to transmit a signal, the FFP includes channel occupancytime COT and an idle period Idle period, the channel occupancy time COTis used by the terminal device to transmit the signal, and the idleperiod is used by the terminal device to perform LBT.

According to a second aspect, this application further provides aresource configuration method, and the method is performed by a terminaldevice. In the method, the terminal device receives FFP configurationinformation from a network device, parses the FFP configurationinformation, and obtains an FFP configuration, where the FFPconfiguration information indicates the FFP configuration of theterminal device, an FFP is a period used by the terminal device totransmit a signal, the FFP includes channel occupancy time COT and anidle period Idle period, the channel occupancy time COT is used by theterminal device to transmit the signal, and the idle period is used bythe terminal device to perform LBT.

According to the foregoing method, the network device can configure theFFP of the terminal device and send the FFP to the terminal device, sothat the terminal device can contend for a channel based on the FFPconfiguration information indicated by the network device, and performtransmission after obtaining the channel through contention.

For example, the FFP configuration information may be carried in radioresource control (radio resource control, RRC) signaling.

In a possible design, the FFP configuration information includes one ormore of the following:

a time domain offset of the FFP relative to a system frame or relativeto an FFP of the network device, indicating a start boundary of the FFPof the terminal device;

duration of the COT;

duration of the idle period of the FFP;

duration of the FFP; and

a start and length indicator value SLIV of a physical uplink sharedchannel PUSCH, indicating a configuration of a PUSCH in the COT.

Optionally, a unit of the time domain offset of the FFP relative to thesystem frame or relative to the FFP of the network device, is a symbol.

Optionally, the duration (duration) of the COT satisfies the followingrule:

COT duration=L×repK×symbol_length

L represents a quantity L of symbols in the PUSCH in the COT, rep_Krepresents a quantity of PUSCHs in one period of COT, and symbol_lengthrepresents a length of a symbol in the PUSCH.

In a possible design, the network device further sends FFP schedulinginformation to the terminal device, and correspondingly, the terminaldevice receives the FFP scheduling information. The FFP schedulinginformation is used to schedule the terminal device to performtransmission in the FFP configured based on the FFP configurationinformation.

For example, the FFP scheduling information and the FFP configurationinformation may be carried in different signaling for sending, where theFFP configuration information is carried in RRC signaling, and the FFPscheduling information is carried in downlink control information(downlink control information, DCI).

When the FFP scheduling information is used to schedule one FFP, the FFPscheduling information may include a first offset, and the first offsetindicates an offset of a start boundary of the FFP scheduled by thenetwork device relative to a start boundary of a time domain resource onwhich the network device sends the FFP scheduling information.

When the FFP scheduling information is used to schedule a plurality ofFFPs, the FFP scheduling information may include a quantity of times oftransmission and a second offset, the quantity of times of transmissionindicates a quantity of FFPs scheduled by the network device, and thesecond offset indicates an offset of a start boundary of the first FFPscheduled by the network device relative to a start boundary of a timedomain resource on which the network device sends the FFP schedulinginformation.

For example, the FFP scheduling information and the FFP configurationinformation may be carried in same signaling for sending, and both theFFP configuration information and the FFP scheduling information arecarried in RRC signaling.

The FFP scheduling information includes a time domain resource periodand a bitmap of a time domain resource pattern, the time domain resourceperiod indicates one time domain resource period to the terminal device,the one time domain resource period includes a plurality of FFPs, andthe bitmap of the time domain resource pattern indicates whether eachFFP of the plurality of FFPs can be used by the terminal device toperform transmission. When the FFP is not used by the terminal device toperform transmission, the FFP may be used by a network device in anunlicensed frequency band or another terminal device.

Optionally, the FFP scheduling information may alternatively not includethe bitmap of the time domain resource pattern, but include only thetime domain resource period. In this case, the plurality of FFPs in thetime domain resource period scheduled by the network device are all usedby the terminal device.

According to a third aspect, this application provides a communicationapparatus configured to perform resource configuration. Thecommunication apparatus has a function of implementing the method in anyone of the first aspect and the possible implementations of the firstaspect. The function may be implemented by hardware, or may beimplemented by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardwareor the software includes one or more units corresponding to theforegoing functions.

According to a fourth aspect, this application provides a communicationapparatus configured to perform resource configuration. Thecommunication apparatus has a function of implementing the method in anyone of the second aspect and the possible implementations of the secondaspect. The function may be implemented by hardware, or may beimplemented by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardwareor the software includes one or more units corresponding to theforegoing functions.

According to a fifth aspect, this application provides a communicationapparatus. A structure of the communication apparatus includes a memory,a processor, and a communication module. The memory is configured tostore a computer-readable program. The processor invokes instructionsstored in the memory, to perform the method performed by the terminaldevice in the first aspect. The communication module is configured toreceive data and/or send data under control of the processor. Thecommunication module may be a transceiver, a communication interface, oran input/output interface.

Optionally, the communication apparatus may be a network device or achip.

According to a sixth aspect, this application provides a communicationapparatus. A structure of the communication apparatus includes a memory,a processor, and a communication module. The memory is configured tostore a computer-readable program. The processor invokes instructionsstored in the memory, to perform the method performed by the terminaldevice in the second aspect. The communication module is configured toreceive data and/or send data under control of the processor. Thecommunication module may be a transceiver, a communication interface, oran input/output interface.

Optionally, the communication apparatus may be a terminal device or achip.

According to a seventh aspect, this application provides acomputer-readable storage medium. The computer-readable storage mediumstores computer instructions. When the computer instructions are run ona computer, the computer is enabled to perform the method in any one ofthe first aspect or the possible implementations of the first aspect.

According to an eighth aspect, this application provides acomputer-readable storage medium. The computer-readable storage mediumstores computer instructions. When the computer instructions are run ona computer, the computer is enabled to perform the method in any one ofthe second aspect or the possible implementations of the second aspect.

According to a ninth aspect, this application provides a chip, includinga processor. The processor is configured to read and execute a computerprogram stored in a memory, to perform the method according to any oneof the first aspect or the possible implementations of the first aspect.

Optionally, the chip further includes the memory, the memory and theprocessor are connected through a circuit or a wire, and the memory isconfigured to store the computer program.

Further, optionally, the chip further includes a communication interfaceor an input/output interface.

According to a tenth aspect, this application provides a chip, includinga processor. The processor is configured to read and execute a computerprogram stored in a memory, to perform the method according to any oneof the second aspect or the possible implementations of the secondaspect.

Optionally, the chip further includes the memory, the memory and theprocessor are connected through a circuit or a wire, and the memory isconfigured to store the computer program.

Further, optionally, the chip further includes a communication interfaceor an input/output interface.

According to an eleventh aspect, this application further provides acomputer program product. The computer program product includes computerprogram code. When the computer program code is run on a computer, thecomputer is enabled to perform the method in any one of the first aspectand the possible implementations of the first aspect.

According to a twelfth aspect, this application further provides acomputer program product. The computer program product includes computerprogram code. When the computer program code is run on a computer, thecomputer is enabled to perform the method in any one of the secondaspect and the possible implementations of the second aspect.

The technical solutions of this application provide a method forconfiguring an FFP of a terminal device by a network device in anunlicensed frequency band, and further provide flexible scheduling of atransmission resource of the terminal device by the network device,especially flexible scheduling of uplink transmission of the terminaldevice, so that requirements of different service types and scenarioscan be met, and communication efficiency can be improved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an application scenario according to anembodiment of this application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an FBE-based channel detectionmechanism according to an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a resource configuration method according to anembodiment of this application;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a time domain offset of an FFP of aterminal device relative to an FFP 0 of a network device according to anembodiment of this application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of feeding back a HARQ in an FFP accordingto another embodiment of this application;

FIG. 6 is a simple schematic diagram of scheduling, by a network device,a terminal device to perform transmission according to still anotherembodiment of this application;

FIG. 7 is a simple schematic diagram of scheduling, by a network device,a terminal device to perform transmission according to still anotherembodiment of this application;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a time domain resource periodconfigured by a network device according to an embodiment of thisapplication;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of modules of a communication apparatusaccording to an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of modules of a communication apparatusaccording to another embodiment of this application;

FIG. 11 is a simplified schematic diagram of a structure of acommunication apparatus according to an embodiment of this application;and

FIG. 12 is a simplified schematic diagram of a structure of acommunication apparatus according to another embodiment of thisapplication.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

The following describes technical solutions in this application withreference to the accompanying drawings.

The technical solutions of this application are mainly used in awireless communication system working in an unlicensed (unlicensed)frequency band, for example, a new radio (new radio, NR) unlicensedsystem (referred to as NR-U below). In addition, the technical solutionsmay also be used in another communication system in which onecommunication device needs to indicate a channel access type to anothercommunication device.

In the following, some terms in this application are described, to helpa person skilled in the art have a better understanding.

A network device is a device that connects a terminal device to awireless network in a communication system. The network device is a nodein a radio access network, and may also be referred to as a base stationor a radio access network (radio access network, RAN) node (or device).

Currently, some examples of the network device are: a gNB, atransmission reception point (transmission reception point, TRP), anevolved NodeB (evolved NodeB, eNB), a radio network controller (radionetwork controller, RNC), a NodeB (NodeB, NB), an access point (accesspoint, AP), a base station controller (base station controller, BSC), abase transceiver station (base transceiver station, BTS), a home basestation (for example, a home evolved NodeB or a home NodeB, HNB), abaseband unit (base band unit, BBU), an enterprise LTE discretenarrowband aggregation (Enterprise LTE Discrete Spectrum Aggregation,eLTE-DSA) base station, and the like.

In addition, in a network structure, the network device may include acentralized unit (centralized unit, CU) node and a distributed unit(distributed unit, DU) node. In this structure, protocol layers of aneNB in a long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) system areseparated. Functions of some protocol layers are all controlled by a CU,and functions of some or all of remaining protocol layers aredistributed in DUs. The DUs are all controlled by the CU.

A terminal device is a device that provides voice and/or dataconnectivity for a user. The terminal device may also be referred to asuser equipment (user equipment, UE), a terminal (terminal), a mobilestation (mobile station, MS), a mobile terminal (mobile terminal, MT),or the like.

For example, the terminal device may be a handheld device, avehicle-mounted device, or a roadside unit that has a wirelessconnection function. Currently, for example, some terminal devices are amobile phone (mobile phone), a tablet computer, a notebook computer, apalmtop computer, a mobile internet device (mobile internet device,MID), an intelligent point of sale (point of sale, POS), a wearabledevice, a virtual reality (virtual reality, VR) device, an augmentedreality (augmented reality, AR) device, a wireless terminal inindustrial control (industrial control), a wireless terminal in selfdriving (self driving), a wireless terminal in remote medical surgery(remote medical surgery), a wireless terminal in a smart grid (smartgrid), a wireless terminal in transportation safety (transportationsafety), a wireless terminal in a smart city (smart city), a wirelessterminal in a smart home (smart home), a smart meter (a smart watermeter, a smart electrical meter, or a smart gas meter), eLTE-DSA UE, adevice having an integrated access and backhaul (integrated access andbackhaul, IAB) capability, a vehicle-mounted electronic control unit(electronic control unit, ECU), a vehicle-mounted computer, anin-vehicle cruise system, and a telematics box (telematics box, T-Box).

A bandwidth part (bandwidth part, BWP) is a segment of consecutivefrequency resources in a carrier used in a cell managed by a networkdevice. For example, one BWP may include K consecutive subcarriers, orinclude a frequency resource on which M consecutive and non-overlappingresource blocks (resource blocks, RBs) are located, or include afrequency resource on which N consecutive and non-overlapping resourceblock groups (resource block groups, RBGs) are located. K, M, and N areintegers greater than 0. The BWP may also be referred to as a bandwidthresource, a bandwidth region, a frequency domain resource, a frequencyresource part, or some frequency resources, or may have another name.This is not limited in this application.

“And/or” describes an association relationship between associatedobjects and represents that three relationships may exist. For example,A and/or B may represent three cases: There is only A, there are both Aand B, and there is only B. The character “/” usually indicates an “or”relationship between the associated objects.

“A plurality of” in this application means two or more. “At least one”means one or more. In addition, it may be understood that in thedescriptions of this application, terms such as “first” and “second” aremerely used for distinguishing and description, and cannot be understoodas an indication or implication of relative importance, or an indicationor implication of an order.

FIG. 1 shows an example of an architecture of a communication systemapplicable to an embodiment of this application. As shown in FIG. 1, anetwork device and terminal devices UE 1 to UE 6 form a communicationsystem. In the communication system, the UE 1 to the UE 6 may senduplink data to the network device, and the network device needs toreceive the uplink data sent by the UE 1 to the UE 6. In addition, acommunication system may alternatively include the UE 4 to the UE 6. Inthe communication system, the network device may send downlinkinformation to the UE 1, the UE 2, and the UE 5. The UE 5 may also senddownlink information to the UE 4 and the UE 6.

In an unlicensed frequency band, a transmit node needs to use theunlicensed frequency band in a contention manner. According to adefinition of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute(European telecommunications standards institute, ETSI), channel accesstypes of the unlicensed frequency band mainly include load basedequipment (load based equipment, LBE) and fixed frame based equipment(frame based equipment, FBE). In other words, there are two channeldetection mechanisms in the unlicensed frequency band: aframe-structure-based (that is, FBE-based) channel detection mechanismand a load-based (LBE-based) channel detection mechanism.

The load-based channel detection mechanism means that when a servicearrives at a device, initial CCA detection is triggered. If the devicedetects, through the initial CCA, that a channel state is idle, thedevice may immediately occupy the channel, where channel occupancy timeis preset. If the device detects, through the initial CCA, that achannel state is busy, a defer period (defer period) needs to begenerated. If it is detected that the channel state is busy within thedefer period, a defer period continues to be generated, and then anextended clear channel assessment (extended CCA, ECCA) is not performeduntil it is detected that the channel state is idle within a deferperiod.

Detection duration of the ECCA is determined by a quantity N of times ofchannel detection backoff, where N is a random CCA detection time valuegenerated between (l, q), and q is preset. If in this period, it isdetected that the channel state is busy in the CCA detection time, adefer period also needs to be generated, and an ECCA process is notcontinued until it is detected that the channel is idle within a deferperiod. The device can occupy the channel only after detecting, in Nperiods of CCA detection time, that the channel is idle, where channeloccupancy time is also preset.

The FBE-based channel detection mechanism means that: a period is set,and listen before talk (listen before talk, LBT) channel detection isperformed once at a fixed location in each period. For example, a CCAmechanism may be used to perform channel detection. Channel detectiontime is also referred to as channel clear assessment (channel clearassessment, CCA) detection time. If a device detects, in CCA detectiontime, that a channel state is idle, the device may immediately occupythe channel and obtain channel occupancy time. The channel occupancytime is a preconfigured fixed value. In the channel occupancy time, thedevice may perform transmission. When the channel occupancy time expiresand the device needs to perform transmission, channel detection isperformed again. If the device detects, in the CCA detection time, thatthe channel state is non-idle, the device cannot occupy the channelwithin this period, and continues to perform LBT channel detection at afixed location in a next period.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an FBE-based channel detectionmechanism. An initiating device (initiating device) performstransmission based on an FBE frame, and a sending period of the FBEframe is referred to as a fixed frame period (fixed frame period, FFP).One fixed frame period may be considered as one FBE frame, that is, inan FBE mode, the initiating device performs transmission based on theFBE frame. One FFP includes two parts: channel occupancy time (channeloccupancy time, COT) and an idle period (idle period), and duration ofthe FFP ranges from 1 ms to 10 ms. The COT is used by an FBE initiatingdevice to send a signal, and the idle period is used by the FBEinitiating device to perform CCA. For the first FFP, the initiatingdevice backs off for a period of time and performs CCA before the COTstarts. If a channel state is assessed as idle, the initiating devicemay send a signal in subsequent channel occupancy time. In someimplementations, the initiating device may share a signal sendingopportunity with one or more other devices during the COT. These devicesare referred to as responding devices (responding devices). If aninterval between a time point at which the initiating device sends thesignal and a time point at which the responding device sends the signalis less than 16 μs, the responding device does not perform CCA,otherwise, the responding device needs to perform CCA whose duration isnot less than 9 μs.

An FFP parameter is configured for the initiating device. This may beunderstood as that the FFP parameter is bound to the initiating device.In other words, different initiating devices may have different FFPconfigurations. The initiating device may be a network device, or may bea terminal device.

In an NR system, a length of a system frame (frame) is 10 ms, and asystem frame number (system frame number, SFN) ranges from 0 to 1023.One system frame includes 10 subframes (subframes), a length of eachsubframe is 1 ms, and a subframe number in the one system frame rangesfrom 0 to 9. Each subframe includes several slots (slots), and aquantity of slots included in each subframe is related to a subcarrierspacing (subcarrier spacing, SCS).

However, in the FBE mode, a device (a network device or a terminaldevice) transmits a signal based on a fixed frame format. Thisapplication provides an FBE-mode-based uplink resource configurationmethod. Any one or more steps in a procedure shown in FIG. 3 may form asolution that needs to be protected in this application. For example,S410 and S420 may form a solution by using a network device as anexecution body. S430 and S440 may form a solution by using a terminaldevice as an execution body. The method includes the following steps.

S410: The network device determines FFP configuration information of theterminal device. The FFP configuration information indicates an FFPconfiguration of the terminal device.

It can be learned from the foregoing descriptions that an FFP includesCOT and an idle period. The network device determines (or configures)duration of the COT of the terminal device and duration of the idleperiod. The FFP configuration information indicates the duration of theCOT of the terminal device and the duration of the idle period. The COTis used by the terminal device to transmit a signal. That the terminaldevice transmits the signal may be that the terminal device receives asignal or the terminal device sends a signal.

In some implementations, the network device may indicate duration of theFFP instead of the duration of the idle period. The terminal device mayobtain the duration of the idle period based on the duration of the FFPand the duration of the COT.

The network device may determine a configuration parameter of the FFP,for example, the duration of the COT, the duration of the idle period,or the duration of the FFP, based on quality of service (quality ofservice, QoS) of a to-be-transmitted service and different service types(for example, an enhanced mobile broadband (enhanced mobile broadband,eMBB) service, an ultra-reliable low-latency communication(ultra-reliable low-latency communication, URLLC) service, or a massivemachine-type communications (massive machine-type communications, mMTC)service). This application is not limited to the foregoing example. Thenetwork device may alternatively determine the FFP configurationinformation based on another factor.

When an uplink service requirement changes, the network device mayreconfigure the FFP, and send reconfigured FFP configuration informationto the terminal device, to reconfigure the FFP of the terminal device.For example, the uplink service requirement change may be a change ofquality of service of an uplink service, and the network device mayreconfigure the FFP configuration information based on a difference ofQoS of different services. Alternatively, the uplink service requirementchange may be a change of a type of an uplink service, and becausedifferent service types have different requirements on a latency, athroughput, and the like, a base station may reconfigure the FFPconfiguration information and perform RRC reconfiguration based ondifferent service types. In this way, a service requirement can be metand a more flexible configuration can be implemented.

S420: The network device sends the FFP configuration information to theterminal device.

The FFP configuration information may be carried in radio resourcecontrol (radio resource control) signaling. Specifically, contentincluded in the FFP configuration information may be embodied in a fieldof the RRC signaling. For example, an FBE configured grant configuration(FBE ConfiguredGrantConfig) may be newly added to the RRC signaling.

S430: The terminal device receives the FFP configuration informationfrom the network device.

S440: The terminal device parses the FFP configuration information andobtains the FFP configuration.

It is different from a licensed frequency band that, when performingtransmission in an unlicensed frequency band, the terminal device firstcontends for a channel, and starts transmission after obtaining thechannel through contention. In this embodiment of this application, theterminal device obtains the FFP configuration information from thenetwork device, and may learn of the FFP configuration to perform asubsequent action. This resolves a technical problem of configuring theFFP of the terminal device in the FBE mode. In addition, when theservice type changes, the network device may reconfigure the FFP of theterminal device, to meet requirements of different service types, sothat communication efficiency is improved.

The following provides example descriptions of FFP configurationinformation, where the FFP configuration information may include one ormore of the following fields.

(1) Time domain offset of an FFP of a terminal device relative to asystem frame or relative to an FFP of a network device: The fieldindicates a start location of the FFP of the terminal device, and may berepresented as “TimeDomainoffset”. Optionally, the field indicates atime domain offset of a start boundary of the FFP of the terminal devicerelative to a start boundary of a system frame 0, or the field indicatesa time domain offset of a start boundary of the FFP of the terminaldevice relative to a start boundary of an FFP 0 of the network device.For example, the offset may be in a unit of a symbol. For example, whena value of the field is 1, it indicates that the FFP is offset by onesymbol in time domain relative to the system frame 0 or relative to thestart boundary of the FFP 0 of the network device. Alternatively, theoffset may be an absolute time value. For example, when a value of thefield is 1, the FFP is offset by 1 ms relative to the system frame 0 orrelative to the start boundary of the FFP of the network device in timedomain. It may be understood that the time domain offset may be apositive number, which means that the start boundary of the FFP of theterminal device is after the system frame 0 or after the start boundaryof the FFP 0 of the network device. Alternatively, the time domainoffset may be a negative number, which means that the start boundary ofthe FFP of the terminal device is before the start boundary of thesystem frame 0 or before the start boundary of the FFP of the networkdevice. As shown in FIG. 4, the start boundary of the FFP of theterminal device is before the start boundary of the FFP 0 of the networkdevice.

After obtaining the time domain offset of the FFP relative to the systemframe 0 or relative to the FFP of the network device, the terminaldevice may know the start location of the FFP, that is, may know whenthe FFP starts. It may be understood that the start boundary of thesystem frame 0 or the FFP 0 of the network device is merely an exampleof a reference start point used to determine the start location of theFFP of the terminal device. In another implementation, the referencestart point may alternatively be located in a system frame other thanthe system frame 0, or may be an FFP other than the FFP 0 of the networkdevice. Alternatively, the reference start point may be an end boundaryof the system frame or the FFP of the network device, or a time point inthe system frame 0 or the FFP 0 of the network device.

(2) Duration of channel occupancy time COT of an FFP: The fieldindicates a time length of the COT in the FFP of the terminal device,and may be represented as COT duration. For example, the time length ofthe COT may be in a unit of a symbol. For example, when a value of thefield is 5, it indicates that the time length of the COT may be fivesymbols. Alternatively, the time length of the COT may be an absolutetime value. For example, when a value of the field is 5, it indicatesthat the time length of the COT may be 5 ms. It may be understood thatthe absolute time value may be in another time unit. The terminal devicemay obtain the duration of the COT in the FFP from the network devicebased on the field. In different embodiments, the COT is used by theterminal device to send a signal, or may be used by the terminal deviceto receive a signal. In other words, the COT is used by the terminaldevice to perform uplink transmission, or the COT may be used by theterminal device to perform downlink transmission.

(3) Duration of an idle period: The field indicates duration of the idleperiod in the FFP, and may be represented as “Idle Period”. For example,the duration of the idle period may be in a unit of a symbol. Forexample, when a value of the field is 2, it indicates that the durationof the idle period is two symbols. Alternatively, the duration of theidle period may be an absolute time value. For example, when a value ofthe field is 2, it indicates that the duration of the idle period is 2ms. It may be understood that the absolute time value may be in anothertime unit. The terminal device may obtain the duration of the idleperiod in the FFP from the network device based on the field. The idleperiod may be used by the terminal device to perform channel listeningbefore transmission.

(4) Duration of an FFP of a terminal device: The field indicatesduration of the FFP. For example, the duration of the FFP may be in aunit of a symbol. For example, when a value of the field is 140, itindicates that the duration of the FFP is 140 symbols. Alternatively,the duration of the FFP may be an absolute time value. For example, whena value of the field is 10, it indicates that the duration of the FFP is10 ms. It may be understood that the absolute time value may be inanother time unit. The terminal device may obtain the duration of theFFP from the network device based on the field. In some embodiments,even if the FFP configuration information does not include the durationof the idle period, the terminal device may obtain the duration of theidle period based on the duration of the FFP and the duration of theCOT.

(5) Start and length indicator value (start and length indicator value,SLIV) of a physical uplink shared channel (physical uplink sharedchannel, PUSCH): The field indicates a start symbol offset S of a PUSCHsignal and a quantity L of symbols included in the PUSCH. In otherwords, the field indicates when the terminal device starts to send thePUSCH and duration of the PUSCH. For example, an initial value of S is0, which means that after LBT succeeds, the terminal device immediatelysends the PUSCH in the COT. A value range of L is 1 to 4, indicatingthat a length of the PUSCH may be 1 to 4 symbols. The terminal devicemay consecutively transmit one or more PUSCHs in the COT. For thenetwork device, one PUSCH represents one complete demodulation unit. Insome embodiments, PUSCHs are transmitted consecutively, and a subsequentPUSCH is transmitted immediately after the first PUSCH. The terminaldevice obtains a starttime point and the SLIV of the PUSCH from thenetwork device, and may learn how to transmit the PUSCH in the COT.

In another embodiment, the FFP configuration information may furtherinclude a self-contained hybrid automatic repeat request (hybridautomatic repeat request, HARQ) resource configuration, and the fieldmay be represented as “Self-contain HARQ resource configuration”. Asshown in FIG. 5, a network device configures a time domain resource inCOT of a terminal device. The time domain resource is used by theterminal device to receive HARQ information sent by the network device.The HARQ information indicates that a result of demodulating, by thenetwork device, a PUSCH sent in current COT is an acknowledgment(acknowledgment, ACK) message or a negative acknowledgment (negativeacknowledgment, NACK). Optionally, the time domain resource may befurther used to feed back downlink feedback information (downlinkfeedback information, DFI) of the terminal device, and the DFI is usedto feed back the demodulation result of the PUSCH.

Therefore, the terminal device may receive feedback from the networkdevice in advance, and determine, based on a feedback result, whetherretransmission is required, so that communication efficiency can beimproved.

It may be understood that FFP configuration information may include moreor fewer fields. For example, when the network device does not configurea BWP-related parameter (for example, frequency domain resourceindication information), the FFP configuration information may carry thefollowing information.

(1) Bandwidth part (bandwidth part, BWP) index identifier (identifier,ID) of a terminal device: This information indicates a BWP index IDallocated to the terminal device for performing FFP. A BWP of theterminal device is a segment of consecutive bandwidth resourcesallocated by a network side to the terminal device. Different BWPs maybe configured for different terminal devices, and a channel resourceconfiguration of the terminal device is allocated and scheduled in theBWP.

(2) Subcarrier spacing of a BWP of a terminal device: The subcarrierspacing may be used to determine a symbol length. For example, if aPUSCH occupies several symbols, a length of the PUSCH may be determined.

(3) Frequency domain resource location indication of a BWP of a terminaldevice: The frequency domain resource location indication may berepresented as “FrequencyDomainAllocation”.

In some implementations, the terminal device can be triggered to performtransmission only after the network device schedules the terminaldevice. This manner may be referred to as scheduled uplink (scheduleduplink, SUL) transmission, and is a mechanism in which the networkdevice dynamically schedules the terminal device to perform uplinktransmission. The terminal device sends an uplink signal based on thescheduling of the network device. The network device may schedule aplurality of PUSCHs at a time. The method shown in FIG. 3 is furtherdescribed.

In S410, the network device further determines first FFP schedulinginformation, where the first FFP scheduling information is used toschedule the terminal device to perform transmission in an FFPconfigured based on the first FFP configuration information.

In S420, the network device sends the first FFP scheduling informationto the terminal device.

In S430, the terminal device receives the first FFP schedulinginformation from the network device, and attempts to performtransmission based on the FFP scheduling information. This is becausethe terminal device first performs LBT in an unlicensed frequency band,and performs transmission after obtaining a channel through contention.After obtaining the FFP scheduling information from the network device,the terminal device performs transmission based on a time domainlocation indicated by the FFP scheduling information.

For example, the FFP configuration information and the first FFPscheduling information may be carried in different signaling. Forexample, the FFP configuration information is carried in RRC signaling,and the first FFP scheduling information is carried in DCI.

After an FFP configuration of the terminal device is completed based onthe FFP configuration information, the terminal device already knows astructure of the FFP and knows how to perform transmission, but performstransmission after the network device allocates a time domain resource.In other words, the transmission of the terminal device requiresscheduling of the network device. The network device sends the DCI tothe terminal device, to trigger the terminal device to perform LBT, andperform transmission after obtaining a channel through contention.

In a design, the network device schedules a transmission resource to theterminal device, and the transmission resource is one FFP in timedomain. It can be learned that the transmission resource is a timedomain resource. It may be understood that the network device schedulesthe terminal device to perform transmission in the one FFP. The firstFFP scheduling information may include a first offset, and the firstoffset indicates an offset of a start boundary of the time domainresource of the terminal device scheduled by the network device relativeto a start boundary of a time domain resource on which the networkdevice sends the first FFP scheduling information. In other words, thefirst offset indicates an offset of a start boundary of the time domainresource of the terminal device scheduled by the network device relativeto a start boundary of a time domain resource on which the networkdevice sends the DCI. For example, a unit of the first offset may be asymbol, or a unit of the first offset may be an FFP, and the firstoffset may be represented as “TimeoffsetToGrant”.

Optionally, the first offset may alternatively indicates an offset of astart boundary of COT scheduled by the network device relative to thestart boundary of the time domain resource on which the network devicesends the first FFP scheduling information. In this case, thetransmission resource allocated by the network device may be one periodof COT. In other words, the network device schedules the terminal deviceto perform transmission in one period of COT.

Therefore, after receiving the first FFP scheduling information, theterminal device may learn of the time domain resource allocated by thenetwork device, complete LBT before the start location of the timedomain resource, and perform transmission after obtaining a channelthrough contention.

For example, as shown in FIG. 6, a network device sends DCI to aterminal device on a time domain resource. Optionally, the DCI may beuplink scheduling (uplink grant, UL grant). In an example in FIG. 6, thenetwork device schedules one FFP, and the terminal device determines,based on a first offset included in the DCI, an FFP for transmission,completes LBT before a start boundary of the FFP, and performstransmission after obtaining a channel through contention.

When one FFP is scheduled, more flexible scheduling may be implemented.On the other hand, the network device sends less FFP schedulinginformation to the terminal device, so that signaling overheads can alsobe reduced.

In another design, the network device schedules a time domain resourceof the terminal device, where the time domain resource includes aplurality of FFPs in time domain. It may be understood that the networkdevice schedules the terminal device to perform transmission in theplurality of FFPs. The first FFP scheduling information may include aquantity of times of transmission and a second offset. The quantity oftimes of transmission indicates a quantity of FFPs scheduled by thenetwork device, and may be represented as “Times of UL transmission”.The second offset indicates an offset of a start boundary of the firstFFP in the plurality of FFPs scheduled by the network device relative toa start boundary of a time domain resource on which the network devicesends the FFP scheduling information, or the second offset indicates anoffset of the time domain resource of the terminal device scheduled bythe network device relative to a start boundary of a time domainresource on which the network device sends the first FFP schedulinginformation. For example, a unit of the second offset may be a symbol,or a unit of the second offset may be an FFP, and the second offset maybe represented as “TimeoffsetToGrant”.

Optionally, the quantity of times of transmission indicates a quantityof periods of COT allocated by the network device, and may berepresented as “Times of UL transmission”. The second offset indicatesan offset of a start boundary of the first period of COT in theplurality of periods of COT scheduled by the network device relative toa start boundary of a time domain resource on which the network devicesends the FFP scheduling information. It may be understood as that thesecond offset indicates an offset of a start boundary of a transmissionresource allocated by the network device to the terminal device. In thiscase, the transmission resource allocated by the network device mayalternatively be a plurality of periods of COT. In other words, thenetwork device schedules the terminal device to perform transmission inthe plurality of periods of COT. For example, a unit of the secondoffset may be a symbol, or a unit of the second offset may be COT, andthe second offset may be represented as “TimeoffsetToGrant”.

Because the network device schedules a plurality of FFPs or periods ofCOT for the terminal device, even if the terminal device fails in LBTand does not obtain a channel through contention before one FFP or COT,the terminal device may still have an opportunity to perform LBT again.As shown in FIG. 7, a network device sends DCI to a terminal device on asegment of time domain resources. The network device schedules two FFPs:FFP_1 and FFP_2. The terminal device learns of an allocated time domainresource based on the DCI, and performs LBT before a start boundary ofFFP_1. When the LBT fails, the terminal device cannot performtransmission. The terminal device may perform LBT before a startboundary of FFP_2, that is, perform the LBT in an idle period of FFP_1.When the LBT succeeds, the terminal device obtains a channel throughcontention for transmission.

It can be learned that when a plurality of FFPs or periods of COT arescheduled, because there are a plurality of transmission opportunities,even if LBT fails, the terminal device still performs LBT in a next FFP,so that access time of the terminal device can be shortened.

In some other implementations, the network device may configure thatsignaling carrying FFP configuration information further carries secondFFP scheduling information. In other words, the FFP configurationinformation and second FFP scheduling information may be carried in samesignaling, for example, RRC signaling. This manner may be referred to asautomatic uplink (automatic uplink, AUL) transmission, and is amechanism in which the network device semi-persistently schedulesperiodic uplink transmission of the terminal device. After receivingactivation signaling, the terminal device may periodically send anuplink signal on a preconfigured time domain resource until deactivationsignaling is received. To be specific, the terminal device starts tosend the uplink signal after receiving the activation signaling, andstops sending the uplink signal after receiving the deactivationsignaling. The time domain resource may include a plurality of FFPs. Aquantity of PUSCHs transmitted in periods of COT in the plurality ofFFPs is configurable, and quantities of PUSCHs transmitted in periods ofCOT in different FFPs may be the same or may be different.

The second FFP scheduling information may include an automatic uplink(Automatic Uplink, AUL) transmission time domain resource period (AULtime resource pattern period), a unit of the period is a length of anFFP, and the automatic uplink transmission time domain resource periodindicates a quantity of FFPs. For example, when a value of the field isN, it indicates that one time domain resource period includes N FFPs,where N is a positive integer greater than or equal to 1.

When the FFP configuration information and the FFP schedulinginformation are carried in same signaling, the terminal device mayconfigure an FFP structure by using one piece of signaling and schedulethe terminal device to perform transmission, so that signaling overheadscan be reduced.

Optionally, the FFP scheduling information may further include an AULtime domain resource pattern (pattern) bitmap (bit map), and the bitmapindicates which FFP in an AUL time domain resource period is used foruplink transmission. A bit value corresponding to an FFP indicateswhether the corresponding FFP is for effective uplink transmission. Forexample, when a bit is 1, it indicates that the corresponding FFP is foreffective uplink transmission, and when a bit is 0, it indicates thatthe corresponding FFP is forbidden to be used for uplink transmission.Alternatively, when a bit is 0, it indicates that the corresponding FFPis for effective uplink transmission, and when a bit is 1, it indicatesthat the corresponding FFP is forbidden to be used for uplinktransmission. In some implementations, the network device may allocate,to another terminal device or the network device, a time domain resourcecorresponding to an FFP that is forbidden to be used for uplinktransmission. In other words, the network device schedules anotherterminal device on a time domain resource on which an FFP that isforbidden to be used for uplink transmission is located to performtransmission, or the network device performs transmission. It may beunderstood that the FFP is not limited to being used for uplinktransmission, and may also be used for downlink transmission.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of an AUL time domain resource period. Astart boundary of the AUL time domain resource period has an offsetrelative to a system frame 0, where the offset is indicated byTimeDomainOffset in FFP configuration information. The AUL time domainresource period includes N FFPs, which are represented by FFP_1, FFP_2,. . . , FFP_N. Each FFP includes COT and an idle period. In the examplein FIG. 8, an AUL time domain resource pattern bitmap is 010101 . . .01, and bit values 0 and 1 are cyclically set, where 0 indicates that acorresponding FFP is forbidden to be used for uplink transmission, and 1indicates that a corresponding FFP is for effective uplink transmission.FFP_1 and FFP_2 are used as an example. FFP_1 corresponds to the firstbit in the bitmap, and if the bit is 0, it indicates that FFP_1 isforbidden to be used for transmission, and a terminal device does notperform uplink transmission in FFP_1. FFP_2 corresponds to the secondbit in the bitmap, and if the bit is 1, it indicates that FFP_2 is foreffective uplink transmission, and the terminal device performs LBTbefore COT of FFP_2 starts, and performs uplink transmission when LBTsucceeds.

In still another implementation, a network device may further configureand schedule an FFP by using a field in a configured grant configuration(ConfiguredGrantConfig) in RRC signaling. In this case, the networkdevice re-interprets the RRC signaling, and the terminal devicere-interprets the field in the RRC signaling. For example, the terminaldevice re-interprets the following fields in the RRC signaling.

(1) A time domain offset (TimeDomainOffset) indicates an offset of anFFP of the terminal device relative to a system frame or relative to anFFP of the network device. In ConfiguredGrantConfig, TimeDomainOffsetindicates an offset of a transmission resource scheduled by the networkdevice relative to a system frame 0, where the offset is in a unit of aslot. In this implementation, the offset may be an offset of a startboundary of an FFP relative to a start boundary of the system frame 0 orrelative to a start boundary of an FFP 0 of the network device. Forexample, the offset may be in a unit of a symbol. For example, when avalue of the field is 1, it indicates that the FFP is offset by onesymbol in time domain relative to the system frame 0 or relative to thestart boundary of the FFP 0 of the network device. Alternatively, theoffset may be an absolute time value. For example, when a value of thefield is 1, the FFP is offset by 1 ms relative to the system frame 0 orrelative to the start boundary of the FFP of the network device in timedomain. It may be understood that the time domain offset may be apositive number, which means that the start boundary of the FFP of theterminal device is after the system frame 0 or after the start boundaryof the FFP 0 of the network device. Alternatively, the time domainoffset may be a negative number, which means that the start boundary ofthe FFP of the terminal device is before the start boundary of thesystem frame 0 or before the start boundary of the FFP of the networkdevice.

(2) A time domain allocation (TimeDomainAllocation) indicates aconfiguration of a time domain resource that includes an SLIV and thatis of the terminal device. In ConfiguredGrantConfig,TimeDomainAllocation indicates a time-domain configuration of an uplinkconfiguration grant including the SLIV. In this implementation, in otherwords, the field indicates when the terminal device starts to send aPUSCH and duration of the PUSCH. For example, an initial value of S is0, which means that after LBT succeeds, the terminal device immediatelysends the PUSCH in the COT. A value range of L is 1 to 4, indicatingthat a length of the PUSCH may be 1 to 4 symbols.

(3) Rep_K indicates a quantity of PUSCHs in the COT of the FFP of theterminal device. In this embodiment, the terminal device may learn ofthe duration of the COT according to the following rule:

COT duration=L×Rep_K×symbol_length

L represents a quantity of symbols in one PUSCH, Rep_K represents aquantity of PUSCHs in one period of COT, and symbol_length represents asymbol length corresponding to a subcarrier spacing of a BWP of theterminal device.

With reference to the time domain offset and the duration of the COT,the terminal device may obtain idle duration. Specifically, when startboundaries of two adjacent periods of COT are determined, the idleduration may be obtained if the duration of the COT is known. Theterminal device may further obtain, based on a period (periodicity) inConfiguredGrantConfig in the RRC signaling, a time domain resource ofthe terminal device scheduled by the network device, namely, a timedomain resource period.

After the foregoing re-interpretation, the terminal device may obtain anFFP configuration, for example, a start boundary, duration of COT,duration of an idle period, and how to transmit a PUSCH in the COT.

The foregoing re-interpretation of some fields in ConfiguredGrantConfigcan reduce signaling overheads. Especially in a scenario in which thenetwork device works in an FBE mode, it may be understood as that a cellcorresponding to the network device is an FBE-mode-based cell. In theFBE cell, the network device may use ConfiguredGrantConfig in RRCsignaling for FFP configuration. When finding that a current cell is anFBE cell, the terminal device re-interprets some fields in the RRCsignaling, to obtain the FFP configuration.

The foregoing describes in detail the resource configuration methodprovided in this application. The following describes resourceconfiguration apparatuses provided in this application.

FIG. 9 is a schematic block diagram of a resource configurationcommunication apparatus 500 according to this application. As shown inFIG. 9, the communication apparatus 500 includes a processing unit 510and a transceiver unit 520.

The processing unit 510 is configured to determine fixed frame periodFFP configuration information of a terminal device, where an FFP is aperiod used by the terminal device to transmit a signal, the FFPincludes channel occupancy time COT and an idle period Idle period, thechannel occupancy time COT is used by the terminal device to transmitthe signal, and the idle period is used by the terminal device toperform LBT.

The transceiver unit 520 is configured to send the fixed frame periodFFP configuration information to the terminal device.

For the FFP configuration information, refer to descriptions in theforegoing embodiments, and details are not described herein again.

In an embodiment, the processing unit 510 is further configured todetermine first FFP scheduling information, where the first FFPscheduling information is used to schedule the terminal device toperform transmission in an FFP configured based on the FFP configurationinformation. The transceiver unit 520 is further configured to send thefirst FFP scheduling information to the terminal device. The FFPconfiguration information and the first FFP scheduling information arecarried in different signaling. For example, the FFP configurationinformation is carried in RRC signaling, and the first FFP schedulinginformation is carried in DCI. For the first scheduling information,refer to descriptions in the foregoing embodiments. Details are notdescribed herein again.

In another embodiment, the processing unit 510 may configure that thesignaling carrying the FFP configuration information further carriessecond FFP scheduling information, where the second FFP schedulinginformation is used to schedule the terminal device to performtransmission in the FFP configured based on the FFP configurationinformation. For example, the FFP configuration information and secondconfiguration information are carried in the RRC signaling and sent bythe transceiver unit 520. For the second configuration information,refer to descriptions in the foregoing embodiments. Details are notdescribed herein again.

Optionally, the apparatus 500 may be a chip or an integrated circuit.

Optionally, the processing unit 510 may be a processor.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 520 may be a transceiver, and thetransceiver may include a transmitter and a receiver, and have bothreceiving and sending functions.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 520 may further be an input/outputinterface or an input/output circuit.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 520 may be a communication interface,for example, an input/output interface circuit, an input interfacecircuit, and an output interface circuit.

The apparatus 500 may correspond to the network device in resourceconfiguration method embodiments provided in this application. Unitsincluded in the apparatus 500 are respectively configured to implementcorresponding operations and/or procedures performed by the networkdevice in method embodiments.

For example, the processing unit 510 is configured to perform operationsand/or steps implemented inside the terminal device in methodembodiments. For example, the processing unit 510 is configured todetermine an FFP configuration of the terminal device.

The transceiver unit 520 is configured to send the FFP configurationinformation, the first FFP scheduling information, the second FFPscheduling information, or the like to the terminal device.

FIG. 10 is a schematic block diagram of a resource configurationcommunication apparatus 600 according to this application. As shown inFIG. 17, the apparatus 600 includes a processing unit 620 and atransceiver unit 610.

The transceiver unit 610 is configured to receive FFP configurationinformation from a network device, where the FFP configurationinformation indicates an FFP configuration of a terminal device, an FFPis a period used by the terminal device to transmit a signal, the FFPincludes channel occupancy time COT and an idle period Idle period, thechannel occupancy time COT is used by the terminal device to transmitthe signal, and the idle period is used by the terminal device toperform LBT.

The processing unit 620 is configured to parse the FFP configurationinformation and obtain the FFP configuration.

For the FFP configuration information, refer to descriptions in theforegoing embodiments, and details are not described herein again. In anembodiment, the transceiver unit 610 is further configured to receivefirst FFP scheduling information from the network device, where thefirst FFP scheduling information is used to schedule the terminal deviceto perform transmission in an FFP configured based on the FFPconfiguration information. The FFP configuration information and thefirst FFP scheduling information are carried in different signaling. Forexample, the FFP configuration information is carried in RRC signaling,and the first FFP scheduling information is carried in DCI. For thefirst scheduling information, refer to descriptions in the foregoingembodiments. Details are not described herein again.

In another embodiment, the transceiver unit 610 is further configured toreceive second FFP scheduling information from the network device, wherethe second FFP scheduling information is used to schedule the terminaldevice to perform transmission in the FFP configured based on the FFPconfiguration information. For example, the FFP configurationinformation and second configuration information are carried in the RRCsignaling and received by the transceiver unit 610. For the secondconfiguration information, refer to descriptions in the foregoingembodiments. Details are not described herein again.

Optionally, the apparatus 600 may be a chip or an integrated circuit.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 610 may be a transceiver, and thetransceiver may include a transmitter and a receiver, and have bothreceiving and sending functions.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 610 may further be an input/outputinterface or an input/output circuit.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 610 may be a communication interface,for example, an input/output interface circuit, an input interfacecircuit, and an output interface circuit.

Optionally, the processing unit 620 may be a processor.

The apparatus 600 may correspond to the network device in resourceconfiguration method embodiments provided in this application. Unitsincluded in the apparatus 600 are respectively configured to implementcorresponding operations and/or procedures performed by the terminaldevice in method embodiments.

The transceiver unit 610 is configured to perform the step of receivinga message and/or information from the network device in methodembodiments. For example, the transceiver unit 610 is configured toreceive an FFP configuration message, the first FFP schedulinginformation, the second FFP scheduling information, or the like from thenetwork device.

The processing unit 620 is configured to perform operations and/or stepsimplemented inside the terminal device in method embodiments. Forexample, the processing unit 620 is configured to determine the FFPconfiguration of the terminal device based on the FFP configurationmessage, for example, duration of the FFP, and proportions of the COTand the idle period.

The chip in this embodiment of this application may be afield-programmable gate array (field-programmable gate array, FPGA), anapplication-specific integrated chip (application-specific integratedcircuit, ASIC), a system on chip (system on chip, SoC), a centralprocessing unit (central processor unit, CPU), a network processor(Network Processor, NP), a digital signal processing circuit (digitalsignal processor, DSP), or may be a microcontroller (micro controllerunit, MCU), a programmable logic device (programmable logic device,PLD), or another integrated chip.

This application further provides a network device 700. The followingprovides descriptions with reference to FIG. 11.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of a structure of a communicationapparatus 700 according to this application. The communication apparatus700 is configured to implement functions of the network device in methodembodiments, and may be a network device or a chip. The communicationapparatus 700 includes a processor 701, a communication module 702, anda memory 703.

The processor 701 is configured to read a program in the memory 703, toperform the following process.

The processor 701 is configured to determine fixed frame period FFPconfiguration information of a terminal device, where an FFP is a periodused by the terminal device to transmit a signal, the FFP includeschannel occupancy time COT and an idle period Idle period, the channeloccupancy time COT is used by the terminal device to transmit thesignal, and the idle period is used by the terminal device to performLBT.

The processor 701 is configured to control the communication module 702to send the fixed frame period FFP configuration information to theterminal device.

The communication module 702 is configured to receive a signal and/orsend a signal.

In an embodiment, the processor 701 is further configured to determinefirst FFP scheduling information, where the first FFP schedulinginformation is used to schedule the terminal device to performtransmission in an FFP configured based on the FFP configurationinformation. The processor 701 is further configured to control thecommunication module 702 to send the first FFP scheduling information tothe terminal device. The FFP configuration information and the first FFPscheduling information are carried in different signaling. For example,the FFP configuration information is carried in RRC signaling, and thefirst FFP scheduling information is carried in DCI. For the firstscheduling information, refer to descriptions in the foregoingembodiments. Details are not described herein again.

In another embodiment, the processor 701 may configure that thesignaling carrying the FFP configuration information further carriessecond FFP scheduling information, where the second FFP schedulinginformation is used to schedule the terminal device to performtransmission in the FFP configured based on the FFP configurationinformation. For example, the FFP configuration information and secondconfiguration information are carried in the RRC signaling and sent bythe communication module 702. For the second configuration information,refer to descriptions in the foregoing embodiments. Details are notdescribed herein again.

The processor 701, the communication module 702, and the memory 703 areinterconnected through a bus. The bus may be a peripheral componentinterconnect (peripheral component interconnect, PCI) bus, an extendedindustry standard architecture (extended industry standard architecture,EISA) bus, or the like. The bus may be classified into an address bus, adata bus, a control bus, and the like.

In FIG. 11, a bus architecture may include any quantity ofinterconnected buses and bridges, and specifically connects variouscircuits of one or more processors represented by the processor 701 anda memory represented by the memory 703. The bus architecture may furtherconnect various other circuits such as a peripheral device, a voltagestabilizer, and a power management circuit. These are well known in theart, and therefore are not further described in this specification. Abus interface provides an interface. The communication module 702 may bea plurality of elements. To be specific, the communication module 702includes a transmitter and a communication unit, and provides unitsconfigured to communicate with various other apparatuses on atransmission medium. Alternatively, the communication module 702 may bea single element, for example, may be a transceiver or a communicationinterface located on a chip. The processor 701 is responsible formanaging the bus architecture and general processing. The memory 703 maystore data used when the processor 701 performs an operation.

Optionally, the processor 701 may be a central processing unit, anapplication-specific integrated circuit ASIC, a field-programmable gatearray FPGA, or a complex programmable logic device (complex programmablelogic device, CPLD).

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of a structure of a communicationapparatus 800 according to this application. The communication apparatus800 is configured to implement functions of the network device in methodembodiments, and may be a network device or a chip. The communicationapparatus 800 includes a processor 801, a communication module 802, anda memory 803.

The processor 801 is configured to read a program in the memory 803, toperform the following process.

The processor 801 is configured to receive FFP configuration informationfrom a network device through the communication module 802, where theFFP configuration information indicates an FFP configuration of aterminal device, an FFP is a period used by the terminal device totransmit a signal, the FFP includes channel occupancy time COT and anidle period Idle period, the channel occupancy time COT is used by theterminal device to transmit the signal, and the idle period is used bythe terminal device to perform LBT.

The processor 801 is configured to parse the FFP configurationinformation and obtain the FFP configuration.

The communication module 802 is configured to receive a signal and/orsend a signal.

For the FFP configuration information, refer to descriptions in theforegoing embodiments, and details are not described herein again. In anembodiment, the communication module 802 is further configured toreceive first FFP scheduling information from the network device, wherethe first FFP scheduling information is used to schedule the terminaldevice to perform transmission in an FFP configured based on the FFPconfiguration information. The FFP configuration information and thefirst FFP scheduling information are carried in different signaling. Forexample, the FFP configuration information is carried in RRC signaling,and the first FFP scheduling information is carried in DCI. For thefirst scheduling information, refer to descriptions in the foregoingembodiments. Details are not described herein again.

In another embodiment, the communication module 802 is furtherconfigured to receive second FFP scheduling information from the networkdevice, where the second FFP scheduling information is used to schedulethe terminal device to perform transmission in the FFP configured basedon the FFP configuration information. For example, the FFP configurationinformation and second configuration information are carried in the RRCsignaling and received by the communication module 802. For the secondconfiguration information, refer to descriptions in the foregoingembodiments. Details are not described herein again.

The processor 801, the communication module 802, and the memory 803 areinterconnected through a bus. The bus may be a peripheral componentinterconnect (peripheral component interconnect, PCI) bus, an extendedindustry standard architecture (extended industry standard architecture,EISA) bus, or the like. The bus may be classified into an address bus, adata bus, a control bus, and the like.

In FIG. 12, a bus architecture may include any quantity ofinterconnected buses and bridges, and specifically connects variouscircuits of one or more processors represented by the processor 801 anda memory represented by the memory 803. The bus architecture may furtherconnect various other circuits such as a peripheral device, a voltagestabilizer, and a power management circuit. These are well known in theart, and therefore are not further described in this specification. Abus interface provides an interface. The communication module 802 may bea plurality of elements. To be specific, the communication module 802includes a transmitter and a communication unit, and provides unitsconfigured to communicate with various other apparatuses on atransmission medium. Alternatively, the communication module 802 may bea single element, for example, may be a transceiver or a communicationinterface located on a chip. The processor 801 is responsible formanaging the bus architecture and general processing. The memory 803 maystore data used when the processor 801 performs an operation.

Optionally, the processor 801 may be a central processing unit, anapplication-specific integrated circuit ASIC, a field-programmable gatearray FPGA, or a complex programmable logic device (complex programmablelogic device, CPLD).

In addition, this application provides a computer-readable storagemedium. The computer-readable storage medium stores computerinstructions. When the computer instructions are run on a computer, thecomputer is enabled to perform corresponding operations and/orprocedures performed by the network device in method embodiments.

This application provides a computer-readable storage medium. Thecomputer-readable storage medium stores computer instructions. When thecomputer instructions are run on a computer, the computer is enabled toperform corresponding operations and/or procedures performed by theterminal device in method embodiments.

This application further provides a computer program product. Thecomputer program product includes computer program code. When thecomputer program code is run on a computer, the computer is enabled toperform corresponding operations and/or procedures performed by thenetwork device in the resource configuration method provided in thisapplication.

This application further provides a computer program product. Thecomputer program product includes computer program code. When thecomputer program code is run on a computer, the computer is enabled toperform corresponding operations and/or procedures performed by theterminal device in the resource configuration method provided in thisapplication.

This application further provides a chip, including a processor. Theprocessor is configured to invoke and run a computer program stored in amemory, to perform corresponding operations and/or procedures performedby the network device in the resource configuration method provided inthis application.

Optionally, the chip further includes a memory, and the memory isconnected to the processor. The processor is configured to read andexecute the computer program in the memory.

Further, optionally, the chip includes a communication interface. Theprocessor is connected to the communication interface. The communicationinterface is configured to receive a signal and/or data that need/needsto be processed. The processor obtains the signal and/or data from thecommunication interface, and processes the signal and/or data.

This application further provides a chip, including a processor. Theprocessor is configured to invoke and run a computer program stored inthe memory, to perform corresponding operations and/or proceduresperformed by the terminal device in the resource configuration methodprovided in this application.

Optionally, the chip further includes a memory, and the memory isconnected to the processor. The processor is configured to read andexecute the computer program in the memory.

Further, optionally, the chip includes a communication interface. Theprocessor is connected to the communication interface. The communicationinterface is configured to receive a signal and/or data that need/needsto be processed. The processor obtains the signal and/or data from thecommunication interface, and processes the signal and/or data.

Optionally, the communication interface in the foregoing embodiments maybe an input/output interface, and may specifically include an inputinterface and an output interface. Alternatively, the communicationinterface may be an input/output circuit, and may specifically includean input circuit and an output circuit.

The memory and the memory in the foregoing embodiments may be physicallyindependent units, or the memory may be integrated with the processor.

In the foregoing embodiments, the processor may be a central processingunit (central processing unit, CPU), a microprocessor, anapplication-specific integrated circuit (application-specific integratedcircuit, ASIC), one or more integrated circuits configured to controlexecution of programs in the technical solutions of this application, orthe like. For example, the processor may be a digital signal processordevice, a microprocessor device, an analog-to-digital converter, or adigital-to-analog converter. The processor may allocate control andsignal processing functions of the terminal device or the network deviceamong these devices based on respective functions of these devices. Inaddition, the processor may have functions of operating one or moresoftware programs. The software programs may be stored in the memory.The functions of the processor may be implemented by hardware, or may beimplemented by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardwareor the software includes one or more modules corresponding to theforegoing function.

The memory may be a read-only memory (read-only memory, ROM), anothertype of static storage device that can store static information andinstructions, a random access memory (random access memory, RAM) oranother type of dynamic storage device that can store information andinstructions, an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory(electrically erasable programmable read-only memory, EEPROM), a compactdisc read-only memory (compact disc read-only memory, CD-ROM) or anothercompact disc storage, an optical disc storage (including a compactoptical disc, a laser disc, an optical disc, a digital versatile disc, aBlu-ray disc, or the like), a magnetic disk storage medium or anothermagnetic storage device, any other medium that can be used to carry orstore expected program code in a form of an instruction or a datastructure and that can be accessed by a computer, or the like.

A person of ordinary skill in the art may be aware that, in combinationwith the examples described in embodiments disclosed in thisspecification, units and algorithm steps may be implemented byelectronic hardware or a combination of computer software and electronichardware. Whether the functions are performed by hardware or softwaredepends on particular applications and design constraints of thetechnical solutions. A person skilled in the art may use differentmethods to implement the described functions of each particularapplication, but it should not be considered that the implementationgoes beyond the scope of this application.

A person skilled in the art may clearly understand that, for the purposeof convenient and brief description, for detailed working processes ofthe foregoing systems, apparatuses, and units, refer to correspondingprocesses in the foregoing method embodiments. Details are not describedherein again.

In several embodiments provided in this application, it should beunderstood that the disclosed system, apparatus, and method may beimplemented in other manners. For example, described apparatusembodiments are merely examples. For example, the unit division ismerely logical function division and may be other division during actualimplementation. For example, a plurality of units or components may becombined or integrated into another system, or some features may beignored or not performed. In addition, the displayed or discussed mutualcouplings or direct couplings or communication connections may beimplemented by using some interfaces. The indirect couplings orcommunication connections between the apparatuses or the units may beimplemented in electronic, mechanical, or other similar forms.

The units described as separate parts may or may not be physicallyseparate, and parts displayed as units may or may not be physical units,to be specific, may be located in one position, or may be distributed ona plurality of network units. Some or all of the units may be selectedbased on actual requirements to achieve the objectives of the solutionsof embodiments.

In addition, functional units in embodiments of this application may beintegrated into one processing unit, or each of the units may existalone physically, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit.

When the functions are implemented in a form of a software functionalunit and sold or used as an independent product, the functions may bestored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on such anunderstanding, the part contributing to the conventional technology inthe technical solutions of this application or some of the technicalsolutions may be implemented in a form of a software product. Thecomputer software product is stored in a storage medium, and includesseveral instructions for instructing a computer device (which may be apersonal computer, a server, or a network device) to perform all or someof the steps of the method described in embodiments of this application.The foregoing storage medium includes any medium that can store programcode, such as a USB flash drive, a removable hard disk, a read-onlymemory (read-only memory, ROM), a random access memory (random accessmemory, RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disc.

The foregoing descriptions are merely specific implementations of thisapplication, but are not intended to limit the protection scope of thisapplication. Any variation or replacement readily figured out by aperson skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in thisapplication shall fall within the protection scope of this application.The protection scope of this application shall be subject to theprotection scope of the claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A communication apparatus, comprising: aprocessor; and a transceiver coupled to the processor, wherein theprocessor is configured to determine fixed frame period (FFP)configuration information, the FFP configuration information indicatesan FFP configuration of a terminal device, an FFP is a period for theterminal device to transmit a signal, the FFP comprises channeloccupancy time (COT) and an idle period, the channel occupancy time(COT) is used by the terminal device to transmit the signal, and theidle period is for the terminal device to perform LBT, and wherein thetransceiver is configured to send the fixed frame period FFPconfiguration information to the terminal device.
 2. The communicationapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the FFP configurationinformation comprises one or more of the following: a time domain offsetof the FFP relative to a system frame or relative to an FFP of a networkdevice, indicating a start boundary of the FFP of the terminal device,duration of the COT, duration of the idle period of the FFP, duration ofthe FFP, or a start and length indicator value (SLIV) of a physicaluplink shared channel (PUSCH), indicating a configuration of a PUSCH inthe COT.
 3. The communication apparatus according to claim 1, whereinthe transceiver is further configured to send FFP scheduling informationto the terminal device, and the FFP scheduling information is used bythe communication apparatus to schedule the terminal device to performtransmission in the FFP configured based on the FFP configurationinformation.
 4. The communication apparatus according to claim 2,wherein the FFP scheduling information comprises a first offset, and thefirst offset indicates an offset of a start boundary of the FFPscheduled by the communication apparatus relative to a start boundary ofa time domain resource on which the network device sends the FFPscheduling information.
 5. The communication apparatus according toclaim 2, wherein the FFP scheduling information comprises a quantity oftimes of transmission and a second offset, the quantity of times oftransmission indicates a quantity of FFPs scheduled by the communicationapparatus, and the second offset indicates an offset of a start boundaryof the first FFP scheduled by the communication apparatus relative to astart boundary of a time domain resource on which the communicationapparatus sends the FFP scheduling information.
 6. The communicationapparatus according to claim 2, wherein the FFP scheduling informationcomprises a time domain resource period and a bitmap of a time domainresource pattern, the time domain resource period indicates one timedomain resource period to the terminal device, the one time domainresource period comprises a plurality of FFPs, and the bitmap of thetime domain resource pattern indicates whether each FFP of the pluralityof FFPs can be used by the terminal device to perform transmission. 7.The communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a unit of thetime domain offset of the FFP relative to the system frame or relativeto the FFP of the network device is a symbol.
 8. The communicationapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the duration of the COTsatisfies the following rule: COT duration=L×repK×symbol_length, whereinL represents a quantity L of symbols in the PUSCH in the COT, rep_Krepresents a quantity of PUSCHs in one period of COT, and symbol_lengthrepresents a length of a symbol in the PUSCH.
 9. A communicationapparatus, comprising: a transceiver; and a processor coupled to thetransceiver, wherein the transceiver is configured to receive fixedframe period (FFP) configuration information from a network device,wherein the FFP configuration information indicates an FFP configurationof a terminal device, an FFP is a period for the terminal device totransmit a signal, the FFP comprises channel occupancy time (COT) and anidle period, the channel occupancy time (COT) is for the terminal deviceto transmit the signal, and the idle period is for the terminal deviceto perform LBT, and the processor is configured to parse the FFPconfiguration information and obtain the FFP configuration.
 10. Thecommunication apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the FFPconfiguration information comprises one or more of the following: a timedomain offset of the FFP relative to a system frame or relative to anFFP of the network device, indicating a start boundary of the FFP of theterminal device, duration of the COT, duration of the idle period of theFFP, duration of the FFP, or a start and length indicator value (SLIV)of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), indicating a configurationof a PUSCH in the COT.
 11. The communication apparatus according toclaim 9, wherein the transceiver is further configured to receive FFPscheduling information from the network device, and the FFP schedulinginformation is used to schedule the terminal device to performtransmission in the FFP configured based on the FFP configurationinformation.
 12. The communication apparatus according to claim 11,wherein the FFP scheduling information comprises a first offset, and thefirst offset indicates an offset of a start boundary of the FFP of thenetwork device relative to a start boundary of a time domain resource onwhich the network device sends the FFP scheduling information.
 13. Thecommunication apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the FFPscheduling information comprises a quantity of times of transmission anda second offset, the quantity of times of transmission indicates aquantity of FFPs of the network device, and the second offset indicatesan offset of a start boundary of the first FFP of the network devicerelative to a start boundary of a time domain resource on which thenetwork device sends the FFP scheduling information.
 14. Thecommunication apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the FFPscheduling information comprises a time domain resource period and abitmap of a time domain resource pattern, the time domain resourceperiod indicates one time domain resource period to the terminal device,the one time domain resource period comprises a plurality of FFPs, andthe bitmap of the time domain resource period pattern indicates whethereach FFP of the plurality of FFPs can be used by the terminal device toperform transmission.
 15. The communication apparatus according to claim10, wherein a unit of the time domain offset of the FFP relative to thesystem frame or relative to the FFP of the network device is a symbol.16. The communication apparatus according to claim 15, wherein theduration of the COT satisfies the following rule: COTduration=L×repK×symbol_length, wherein L represents a quantity L ofsymbols in the PUSCH in the COT, rep_K represents a quantity of PUSCHsin one period of COT, and symbol_length represents a length of a symbolin the PUSCH.
 17. A method for configuring a resource in an unlicensedfrequency band, comprising: sending, by a network device, fixed frameperiod (FFP) configuration information to a terminal device, wherein theFFP configuration information indicates an FFP configuration of theterminal device, the FFP is a period for the terminal device to transmita signal, the FFP comprises channel occupancy time (COT) and an idleperiod, the channel occupancy time COT is for the terminal device totransmit the signal, and the idle period is used by the terminal deviceto perform LBT.
 18. A method for configuring a resource in an unlicensedfrequency band, comprising: receiving, by a terminal device, fixed frameperiod (FFP) configuration information from a network device, whereinthe FFP configuration information indicates an FFP configuration of theterminal device, an FFP is a period used by the terminal device totransmit a signal, the FFP comprises channel occupancy time (COT) and anidle period, the channel occupancy time (COT) is used by the terminaldevice to transmit the signal, and the idle period is used by theterminal device to perform LBT; and parsing the FFP configurationinformation and obtaining the FFP configuration.